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Melbourne Storm have marked their turf as defending NRL champions by seeing off fellow competition heavyweights South Sydney 26-8 at AAMI Park.
A few minutes of Melbourne magic which produced two tries early in the first half set up the grinding victory on Friday night.
Souths superstar and former Storm boy Greg Inglis did not play, still troubled by the knee injury suffered during State of Origin last month.
The Rabbitohs were also missing injured five-eighth John Sutton although his replacement Luke Keary impressed in his first NRL start.
SCOREBOARD: MEL 26-8 SOU
 | 26-8 |  |
|---|---|---|
| AAMI Park, August 9, 2013 | ||
| Tackles: | Cameron Smith (MEL) - 40 | |
| Hit-Ups: | George Burgess (SOU) - 11 | |
| Offloads: | Billy Slater (MEL) - 2 Luke Keary (SOU) - 2 | |
| Run (m): | Nathan Merritt (SOU) - 159 | |
View full stats sheet
Interview: Craig Bellamy
Interview: Michael Maguire
Interview: Billy Slater
Interview: Bryan Norrie
Last round Melbourne crushed Canberra 68-4 and the Storm began this match in similarly threatening fashion.
In the fifth minute half-back Cooper Cronk flung a wild ball that was batted twice across field, ending up in the arms of Will Chambers, who raced through a gaping hole in the stunned defence.
Three minutes later Melbourne scored again after Rabbitohs winger Dylan Farrell tried to work the ball from his own line but was barrelled back across by a wall of Storm defence.
He spilt the ball which was pounced on by prop Jesse Bromwich.
Farrell later saved a certain try by Sisa Waqa but his night finished on a sour note, stretchered from the field in a neck brace after his head collided with team-mate Andrew Everingham's knee while going up to take a high ball.
Apart from those opening minutes the match was fairly even, with Souths scoring late in the first half through Ben Te'o off an Adam Reynolds bomb.
The difference was that Melbourne made the most of their opportunities and the Rabbitohs did not.
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy said he had mixed feelings after his side's victory.
"I thought we had a good start but we really fell away with our ball control in the last 15 minutes of the second half, and we started pretty ordinary in the second half," Bellamy told Grandstand.
"While I was a bit unhappy with our lack of control for part of the game, I thought we defended pretty good for the whole game."
Melbourne and Souths may meet again in the finals and Bellamy said the Rabbitohs will be a different prospect with the likes of Inglis and Sutton back in the side.
"You'd think they are going to be a better side with Sutton and GI in there," Bellamy said.
"But having said that I don't think we play to our optimum tonight either."
Souths coach Michael Maguire said his side started poorly but he was pleased with the effort.
"I was proud of the players how they climbed back into the game," Maguire said.
"We built enough pressure at time to take a few opportunities but the finesse of our play at the time didn't get us the result."
Two dubious refereeing decisions also stalled their momentum as prop Sam Burgess was penalised for taking out Billy Slater in the air, although it appeared the full-back had already landed.
On the back of that penalty the Storm scored down the other end but it looked like Waqa failed to ground the ball over the line.
Melbourne put the result beyond doubt with eight minutes remaining when Justin O'Neill ran at pace onto a Slater ball and beat Nathan Merritt to touch down.
Storm: 26 (Will Chambers, Jesse Bromwich, Sisa Waqa, Justin O'Neill tries; Cameron Smith 3/4 conv, 2/2 pen goals)
Rabbitohs: 8 (Ben Teo try: Adam Reynolds 1/1 conv, 1/1 pen goal)
AAP/ABC
Topics: nrl, rugby-league, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia
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